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Bench B Workout
--Military Press, 1234MAX. Start with 185 for one rep, then 185 for 2 reps… 5th set is 185 for MAX reps. Add weight if I hit 8+ reps.
--One Arm Dumbbell Press…TBD
I need quite a few warmup sets on military presses before I “give it”, so I find 1234MAX works well.

Bench C Workout

Week 1

--Close Grip Bench Press, 6 x 3
--Incline CGBP, 12345. Start with the triple weight from CGBPs and do a single, drop weight, do a double, drop, do a triple…etc.

Week 2

--Close Grip Bench Press, 6 x 3 – Last triple go for MAX REPs. If I hit 5 reps, add weight to this lift next cycle.
--Incline CGBP, 12345. Start with the triple weight from CGBPs and do a single, drop weight, do a double, drop, do a triple…etc.

First time using sumos in more than a few months. Also haven't trained 90% singles in, well, forever. Goal was 8 squat singles and 6 sets of sump triples. That didn't happen. I felt good, but didn't want to push things too far. this was more a feeler session.

All went well. Glutes were loving the sumos. Squats were tough, but smooth.

The basic plan can be summed up as doing the lifts and their variations as much as possible. There will be severe loading for 2 weeks followed by 1-2 weeks of active rest with a reduced schedule and 50% weights. I believe that to be better than average I will need to train at a higher than average level at least some of the time.

My strength levels are varied at the moment as I've been getting used to equipment, but essentially I have gotten back the bulk of my strength from my hamstring injury in 2007. However I have not progressed much past that, my goals are to hit Elite in the 90kg or 82.5kg class.

Tentative 6 Day Approach

As Btb I'll be refining stuff as I go along, but here is what I am thinking. It's slightly different as essentially its 3 Presses and 3 Squat/Dead days:

I'll be using bands on certain exercises. Briefs/Belt/Wraps/Slingshot will be used as supportive gear, closer to competition I'll look to using the gear more often. Long-term I'd like to train in as much gear as I'll be using in a competition, so regular shirted benching and geared squatting will be included, but I'll have to phase that in over time.

Today was the first session, my training week will always start on Sunday:

Sunday 30th October

Bench Press (Slingshot) - 150kg x 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1

CG 3 Boards - 120kg x 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3

Band Pull Aparts - Red x 20, 20, 20, 20, 20

Good first session in. Got almost all the 8 singles but my joints let me know on that 6th single so I stopped it there, I'll be aiming for 8 singles next time. The 3 Board work was good and I supersetted some Band Aparts with them.